Heavy Ember

Here is my version of Eduard (Drakonis) Schwan's tone poem "Ember-Rekindled." It's been literally years in the making!

I can say that because there were large chunks of time when this hunk of music sat unsatisfactorily ignored. Then I would resuscitate it, work on it, develop it, declare it unacceptable, and put it away again.

And again.

Over time I piled on multiple layers of synths … and then guitars … like coats of varnish.

Then about a month ago I stripped away most of those tracks … to rekindle it as an unadorned guitar statement. Suddenly, I knew where next to go: it became a theme and variation … and the second part just poured out of me. I finally felt good about it.

So I guess this really can't be called a collaboration, because there has been no give-and-take between Eduard and me. It's more like my version of his song. A deconstruction, followed by a transformation. Some of his original synths can still be discerned floating in the background, but most of it has been drowned out by the heavy logs I've tossed onto the coals.

Along the way it picked up some ambient sounds of birds, insects, wolves and waves.

Warren

Eduard's original piece "Ember-Rekindled" can be heard at http://www.macjams.com/song/13185

That's the whole point!
Ember dares you to take her off to remote places that only you know about... and this is exactly what you did, cool! This has a bit of your walking/marching/strutting style, and a really raw gritty loose feel. Sort of like Little Ember Riding hood went into the forest, but she's a punk Ember with orange spiky hair and a "don't EVEN look at me that way" attitude :-) This is "Far out" in all sorts of ways, gave me a big smirk... worth the wait, sorry she gave you years of trouble, but it looks like you found the right matches finally.

Cardinal directions
I like the Little Red Riding Hood comparison, which never came to mind during the development of "Heavy Ember," but the red cardinal opposite the wolf in the graphic does have a punk haircut and fits the role perfectly. The precise, layered, stylized versions weren't working, but once I quit trying to force my version into being something it really didn't want to be, and just let it go where it wanted to go - something decidedly raw yet relaxed - it resolved itself fairly fast. And hopefully it further expands the Ember universe.

This was really good!
I liked Eduard's "Little Red Riding Hood" comparison, not only because of the wolves, but because of the Elizabethan melody presented in the heavy metal style, which was quite excellent (at times it was like Eduard meets Queen--the rock group, of course). Enjoyed immensely--thanks to you both! Michael

wooooolves
Them critters aint interested in singin harmony. They just wanna eat and do other wolfish things. OK - As an Ember Member I must say this one I would not have associated with the Ember Class had you not mentioned it in your description. None the less- this was fun and had drakonis not smirked first, I may have bludgeoned you with some anti-dragon slogan. so, you're safe. Really sounds like you had a lot of fun. way to go!

Sureal feel
This is quite unique because the melody is incredibly simple and played in a childlike innocence but then you wrapped it up in strange and scary sounds that almost herald it as king of the forest. You have tamed the wild embers and your guitar naively leads them along like the pied piper.

Different
From the onset I wanted to take Eduard's "Ember" and somehow make it my own (or at least put my own distinguishing stamp on it). Easier said than done. I fumbled around for a couple of years with several false starts and overblown efforts. For whatever reason, this stripped down approach ended up working, although perhaps the original became too subsumed in the process.

Born in a Minnesota blizzard, I'm now residing in a coastal heat of Brooklyn, New York City.
I recorded my first original composition as a teenager using a reel-to-reel tape recorder back in 1967, and I'm still finding it a creative challenge... [see more]

Heavy metal, sometimes referred to as simply metal, is a form of music characterised by aggressive, driving rhythms and highly amplified distorted guitars. Heavy metal is a development of blues, blues rock, rock and prog rock. Its origins lie in the